ComEd Enhances Transmission Reliability Through Proactive Blackout Self Assessment

ComEd Enhances Transmission Reliability Through Proactive Blackout Self Assessment
    CHICAGO, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- When 50 million electricity customers in
the Northeast and parts of Canada lost power last August in the largest
blackout in North American history, ComEd knew there would be major lessons to
be learned and took action.
    "Even though the blackout did not affect ComEd, we consider it our
responsibility to learn from history," said Susan Ivey, vice president of
Transmission Operations and Planning for Exelon Energy Delivery. "Whenever a
major event like this occurs, there are critical lessons in the findings that
can result in improved reliability. Although a disturbance of such magnitude
is highly unlikely to originate on the ComEd system, we took this opportunity
to improve aspects of our operations and minimize potential risks."
    ComEd formed a cross-functional team to perform a self-assessment of its
transmission operating practices and vegetation management practices. The team
focused its examination on the industry findings of the root causes of the
blackout issued last November in the interim report of the U.S.- Canada Power
System Outage Task Force.
    After interviewing utilities affected by the blackout and identifying best
practices in the industry, ComEd's assessment resulted in about 50 actions
that were completed in time for summer. Additional longer-term actions are
scheduled for completion within the next year.
    "The work performed as a result of the assessment will enhance our
transmission system reliability, which is reassuring for our customers,
particularly now, as we head into the peak summer season," Ivey said.
    The team studied five key areas involved in the blackout and recommended
enhancements to ComEd practices consistent with the recommendation made by the
Task Force to address the "3 Ts" -- trees, tools and training. Highlights of
the improvements centered around formalizing procedures for vegetation
management, making critical computer systems more user-friendly and
informative, enhancing operations processes to improve operator response to
alarms and emergent issues, expanding emergency response procedures and
improving training.
    "The blackout was a wake up call to our industry. Our purpose in
conducting this assessment was to learn all we could from the conditions that
led to the blackout, and to take quick action to enhance reliability for our
customers," Ivey said.

    Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon
Corporation (NYSE: EXC) one of the nation's largest electric utilities with
more than $15 billion in revenues and a customer base of five million. ComEd
provides service to approximately 3.5 million customers across Northern
Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.
SOURCE Commonwealth Edison Company